By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Needham Council for Arts & Culture and the Massachusetts Cultural Council invited His Majesty's 4th "King's Own" Regiment of Foot to Needham on Saturday, June 22nd. The King’s Own recreates a Light Infantry Company of British Regulars as they appeared between 1771 and 1783.
The King’s Own website went on to state, “Emphasizing camaraderie and fellowship, the recreated King's Own strives to represent the entirety of life in the British Army, showcasing not only the soldiers, but the women and children who followed the Army as well.” Their events range from battle reenactments, parades, living history displays and other civic functions.
Within each of these events, The King’s Own strives to educate the audience and shed a light onto Britain's role in the formation of the United States. In order to do this properly, they pride themselves on putting a strong emphasis on historical accuracy. This requires conducting extensive research on both the Regiment portrayed and the British and North American society as a whole.
These soldiers were set up at the Town Common, right next to Town Hall, as crowds filtered through to talk with them. For this specific event, The King’s Own recreated an expedition of British soldiers who had ventured out from Boston in 1775. Soldiers such as these were sent to Boston to keep an eye out on the people of Massachusetts as a result of events like the Boston Tea Party. The 4th Foot soldiers would be some of the first to die in the American Revolution at the Battle of Concord.
To further help portray their accounts of these times, The King’s Own brought along an array of items that they would have been using during this time period. Set up on blankets and tables, these soldiers showcased clothing items, playing cards, tools, bowls, guns and more. They even had wooden prop guns for the little ones to play with if they wanted to. The King’s Own website went on to state, “Given the nature of the activity, all equipment must be made "in-house" or purchased from skilled artisans, leading many members to learn trades such as tailoring, leather working, and hatting. The King's Own is always working to improve the impression based on the latest research in order to respectfully portray our forebearers.”
Throughout the entirety of the event, soldiers were seen talking with attendees, depicting their time in Boston, explaining an item, and/or answering questions. “We do these events,” a reenactor depicting John Barnes stated, “to help celebrate anniversaries, like the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party which was last December and the upcoming one of the American Revolution. Through these we are able to give the alternative perspective because obviously we are in the United States. A lot of our American Revolutionary War history focuses on continental and minutemen, so we are trying to even the playing field. We want to inform everyone on what it was like to be a British soldier stationed here.”
Despite the recent heat wave New England had faced the week before, The King’s Own and all in attendance lucked out with a cloudy and breezy day that was near perfect for this event. It can be easily said that all were able to leave this reenactment learning something new about these British soldiers.
